Nature field trip

Castle High School teacher Kim Townsend gives her students hands-on experience with the environment

DENNY SIMMONS / Courier & Press
Discarded tires and trash, not to mention drifting wood, made the going slow as Castle High School students paddled their way upstream in Pigeon Creek on Friday afternoon. Their teacher, Kim Townsend, used the trip as a way to show how the environment is affected by humans.

Thirty-four biology and environmental science students at Castle High School paddle up Pigeon Creek beneath Franklin Street's bridge in 12 canoes as part of an environmental studies trip.

Thirty-four of Kimberly Townsend's biology and environmental science students at Castle High School canoed Pigeon Creek Friday in search of insect life whose presence can help gauge the health of the waterway.

Dragonfly nymphs and stonefly nymphs weren't all they netted.

"There was a goldfish in a bag from the Fall Festival that got thrown over the bridge," says the 29-year-old Townsend. "It's doing fine. We named him Pigeon Pete."

The senior field trip is coordinated by Wesselman Nature Society and Canoe Evansville. From her post in the lead boat, naturalist Amy Brown prepared the boys and girls on what to expect in their viewfinders.

"You've got some trash and you've got some sewage runoff issues after heavy rains, but overall Pigeon Creek is in pretty good shape," the 31-year-old Brown says. "We've identified 22 species of marine life and we've spotted otters, bobcats and mink."

Brown is on the river as often as four times a week with school groups.

"You could compare it to having your picture taken. You might look really good one day and not so good on another."

Townsend, an Evansville native, has taught for eight years at the Warrick County high school.

"The kids have lab and nature guides in the canoes that they can use to reference the macro-invertebrates they see. This is a chance to immerse them in the subject matter. You can't teach this in school."

The young woman doesn't always focus on tiny creatures. She once spent two weeks at an orangutan orphanage in Borneo.

"Talk about fun!" she said.

Townsend said the canoe excursion is a good way for her students to monitor the effects of humankind on the environment.

"We saw a lot of erosion along the development of the Diamond Avenue project. In my view, it's a poor plan because if we get a lot of rain, some trees along the side of the creek will be lost."

The "sustainability" of the waterway is also a major theme.

"Pigeon Creek eventually flows into the Gulf of Mexico," Townsend says. "Too much silt and erosion causes a dead zone in that area, and there's not enough oxygen for the animals to live.

"The end goal is for the kids to be more conscious of their actions and how they impact the environment."

The students paddled 2-1/2 miles up and back.

Did anybody poop out?

"Me, and I teach aerobics at two gyms," Townsend says, laughing.

"You get stressed out any time you take kids out of school."

Brianna Beard, 18, flicks a bug off her life vest.

"The creek is cleaner than I thought. There's nothing to get grossed out over."